§2a Reapportionment of Representatives; Time and Manner; Existing Decennial Census Figures as Basis; Statement by President; Duty of Clerk

Summary

The President must send Congress, on the first day or within one week of the first regular session of the 82nd Congress and every fifth Congress after, a statement listing each State’s population (not counting Native Americans who are not taxed) as shown by the 17th and later decennial censuses, and how many Representatives each State would get using the "equal proportions" method. No State may be assigned fewer than one Representative. Each State keeps the number of Representatives shown in that statement for the 83rd Congress and until a new reapportionment takes effect. The Clerk of the House must, within fifteen calendar days after getting the President’s statement, send each State’s chief executive a certificate saying how many Representatives it has; if the Clerk can’t do it, the Sergeant at Arms must send the certificates. Until a State redraws its districts, seats are filled as follows: if the number stays the same, use the current districts (including any at-large seats); if the number increases, the extra seats are elected statewide (at-large) and the rest by current districts; if the number decreases, whether seats are elected by districts or at-large depends on how the existing number of districts compares to the new number.